Are Chinnaswamy and Jama Masjid terror cases interlinked?

Are Chinnaswamy and Jama Masjid terror cases interlinked?

Were the Chinnaswamy stadium blasts in Bengaluru and the Jama Masjid firing in Delhi in any way connected? It has been ascertained that the terror incidents are inter linked to the extent that it was the Indian Mujahideen which carried out the attacks, reports Vicky Nanjappa.

There has been a lot of confusion over certain aspects regarding these two terror incidents since it is believed that the fringe groups in the Indian Mujahideen have been carrying out the recent spate of attacks.

Today the police in Delhi and Bengaluru say that there are some leads in the case with the arrest of some persons from Bihar and Chennai. While two persons were arrested in Bihar a week back, some arrests were made in Chennai recently. All these persons are alleged to be IM operatives, and today the Delhi special police has taken over the case and is probing it.

The four men who could be the key to cracking both the cases are Ajmal and Jamil from Bihar and Mohammad Rahman and Irshad Khan who were arrested from Chennai. The Delhi police is currently questioning these men after which their counterparts from Bengaluru would continue with the probe.

'Both attacks were carried out by the same terror module'

The Delhi police, when contacted, said they were not prepared to give away much regarding the progress of the investigations at the moment.

They only said that the arrested men were involved in recruitment of youth, further stating that some of these 'operatives' could possibly be involved in both the terror cases.

However, the police have been able to ascertain that both these attacks were carried out by the same terror module.

The Bengaluru police, on the other hand, said that they would wait for the interrogation reports of these youth following which they would conduct their probe.

During their independent probe they came to the conclusion that the Chinnaswamy stadium blast in April 2010, in which 15 people including five security personnel were injured, were carried out by the Indian Mujahideen and Riyaz Bhatkal was the man who masterminded it.

Image: Forensic experts inspect the site of a bomb blast outside the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium in Bengaluru on April 17, 2010.Photographs: Reuters

These men could also help unsolve German Bakery blast case

There are a series of pending cases in which the police had not really managed any concrete breakthrough so far. However, this time around the Delhi police in particular feel that these arrested youth could be their answer to cracking the case.

These men have not only been in the know of these attacks, but have also managed to recruit around 12 youth from Nepal to further operations of the Indian Mujahideen in India.

They have been part of the exercise to rebuild the group and the police are hopeful that they could get more vital leads from them.

In addition to this, the police would also look to get clues in the unsolved German Bakery blast case in Pune which killed 17 people on February 13, 2010.

The Maharashtra police have remained pretty clueless on this and all they were able to tell was that the operation was carried out by the Indian Mujahideen.

Going by the previous record of the IM, it gives one the indication that it is the same module that operates in Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Kerala.

Image: Police gather at the site of a bomb blast at the German Bakery restaurant in Pune on February 13, 2010.Photographs: Reuters

Hunt also on for Indian Mujahideen's biggest operative

All these modules have been under the control of the Bhatkal brothers. For the time being the police say that their primary focus is on cracking the Jama Masjid and the Chinnaswamy blasts case and the Pune angle would be probed in due course of time after informing their counterparts in Maharashtra.

Apart from cracking both these cases, the police are also hunting for clues regarding one of the biggest operatives in the IM -- Abdus Subhan.

Rahman, the youth who was arrested in Chennai, is believed to have helped Subhan flee the country. It is alleged that in 2008, he had provided all assistance to Subhan to flee the country and enter Nepal from where he left to Pakistan and is believed to be there till date.